Power question

MikefrMd

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Feb 12, 2007
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Hello everyone,

I just ordered part for a new computer I'm building and decided to use a Barebones case...a Mbox.

My question is it comes with a 300 watt PS....will that be sufficent for a system with a 64x2 3800+, One Sata hard drive, one DVD burner and a Radeon XT1600pro pci-e card?

I assumed it would since the case is for 64x2 cpu's

Thanks in advance
 
Could someone please recommend a inexpensive PS to put in this system.

Like I said it will pretty much jsy be one hard drive, one optical drive and the XT1600 Pro

Thanks


P.S. Are the Thermaltake PS's any good?
 
Are Ultra Power supplies pretty good?


I ran the extreme power supply calculator and it says with the cpu video and 2 drives I'm using it would require a power supply of 258 watts. That would be pushing the 300 watt in the barebones case.

500 watts should do fine I would think.
 
I thought I read some where that Every 128MB of RAM will consume about 7 Watts of power If your gonna have a couple of GIGS which would be reccomended for a new build that adds a great deal more to your PS load.

I cant find the link right now but you may want to look into that.
 
I think it is an old article (from the 128 mb/stick SDRAM era). The number of RAM sticks is what is mainly responsible for power consumption, not the amount. Imagine 2 gigs using 16*7 watt, you'd have to use a huge fan to cool the RAM.
 
Ram has little to do with power cunsumption now days. The 5V and 3.3V rails always have more then enough current for your systems needs. The primary aspect to look at is the power bing drawn from the +12v rails. About 90% of your system gets it's power from those rails. So it's importand to know what your system's power needs are in order to find a good PSU. Check the PSU 101 link in my sig for more inofrmation.

I found the link it was on tigerdirect.com guess they dont update that stuff very often huh. Either that or they are trying to get people to commit to a higher wattage more expensive PSU.

Any way I'm a newby at this stuff so I read every thing I can find on PC builds.

Thanks for the tip! :)
 
Sounds like good advice.....how bout someone recommending a solid PS for a entry level gaming PC.

AMD 64 X2 3800+
Sapphire XT1600pro
1GB DDR2 PC6400
120GB Sata HD
DVDRW

Thanks
 
Thanks alot mpilchfamily,

I must make a confession....I had already ordered a Ultra V series 500 watt...I thought I couldn't lose since it was basically free after rebate.

But I think I will follow you advice....my current PS is a Enermax and it has worked perfectly for the last 4 years, so quality does count bigtime.

I will order myself a FSP today.

Thanks again
 
One last question I promise....I have no intention of overclocking so can I just use the cpu thermal paste that come with the cpu or do I need sometihng better. I do have some Arctic Silver 3...Is Arctic Silver 5 that much better?
 
You CAN use the thermal paste that comes with the processor, just keep in mind that it usually doesn't transfer heat as well, and can be very difficult to remove from the processor in the future. I'm sure that your Arctic Silver 3 will be fine, especially since your not overclocking.


If you do use the thermal paste that comes with the processor, make sure to watch the temperature of your processor in the BIOS for a few minutes after your first startup. A friend of mine got a bad batch of factory paste that overheated his CPU. This problem was easily fixed with a new application of A.S.5.